Mum of missing Elisha, 14, pleads for her to return
THE distraught mother of a 14-year-old girl missing since St Patrick’s night has made an impassioned appeal to her daughter to come home – telling her she ‘isn’t in trouble’.
Gardaí are now ‘increasingly concerned’ for the welfare of Elisha Gault, who disappeared from her Co. Tipperary home following a ‘minor’ argument in the family home.
The teenager has been missing from her home in Carrick-on-Suir since 10pm on Saturday.
Volunteers and Civil Defence teams have deployed drones to support various agencies, including the Coast Guard.
Superintendent Willie Leahy, of Clonmel Garda Station, said: ‘First and foremost, I am appealing to Elisha that she make contact with ourselves in Clonmel or our colleagues in Carrick-on-Suir Garda stations, or a member of family, let us know she’s OK.’
The superintendent added: ‘I am appealing to her circle of friends, we’ve visited a lot of her friends in the last number of days, but in this social media age that we have with Instagram and Snapchat, in case we haven’t been in contact with all of her friends, I am appealing to them to contact us.’
The girl, described as welladjusted and from a supportive and loving family environment, left her home on Saturday night unbeknownst to her mother, Gráinne Gault.
Her traumatised mother has since appealed directly to her daughter, or anyone who may have information about her whereabouts, to please come forward.
Ms Gault wrote yesterday on Facebook: ‘If you know of her whereabouts, tell her she isn’t in trouble, she won’t be forced to come home, if she doesn’t want to, we just want to know she’s safe and well and we can call off all the search efforts and that myself, her daddy and her three sisters love her very much, no matter what.’
Senior security sources say that officers are ‘worried’ the young girl may have been involved in an accident and possibly fallen into water at Dillon Bridge.
It is understood Elisha had a ‘typical teenage argument’ in the family home on St Patrick’s night with her mother, relating to the teen’s boyfriend. Her mobile phone was subsequently taken from her and she went upstairs to her bedroom. When her mother checked on her an hour later, she was found to be missing.
She left home without her coat and mobile phone and gardaí are concerned about the ‘bitterly cold’ weather the teen went out into.
It is understood gardaí have since interviewed Elisha’s boyfriend and do not believe he knows anything about her disappearance or whereabouts. It is understood that he willingly allowed gardaí access to his home and that they are ‘satisfied’ he ‘knows nothing’.
Detectives have also spoken to many of the 14-year-old’s friends and are of the opinion that no-one interviewed to date has ‘pertinent’ information. Sources stressed the teen is ‘a very good kid from a good home’ and that this is ‘very much out of character’.
Yesterday, gardaí re-issued an appeal for information about the teen. They believe the last credible sighting of Elisha was on Dillon Bridge in Carrick-on-Suir at about 10.15pm on St Patrick’s night, heading towards the Carrickbeg area on the Co. Waterford side of the town.
More than 50 emergency service personnel and volunteers have been involved in the search.
Sources say a number of boats, including the Carrick-on-Suir river rescue craft, Nenagh search and rescue and Waterford river rescue, have been used to search along the River Suir. Additionally, the Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter has scoured the area.
Gardaí continued making doorto-door inquiries in the Tipperary town yesterday in an attempt to track down Elisha’s last known movements. She is a student at Comeragh College in Carrick-onSuir and has been living on New Street in the town for more than a year with her family. Her mother Gráinne is originally from Belfast, lived for a time in Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, and moved to Carrick-onSuir more than a year ago.
Gardaí have asked anyone in private houses in the Carrickbeg/Dillon Bridge area to check any CCTV footage they may have since the night of March 17 and to provide it to gardaí. They have also asked anyone with gardens, outhouses or sheds to check them for any trace of the teen. They have also sought anyone with dash-cam footage from the night or early morning of March 17 and 18.
Elisha is described as about 5ft 10in to 6ft in height, with blue eyes and dyed blonde hair. Gardaí do not have details of what she was wearing that night.
‘This is very much out of character’ Gardaí seeking CCTV footage